XP: My placental abruption birth story. (very long)

emmasue18

Gabriel Michael was born 1-20-12 at 11:26pm. He was 6lbs 10.5oz and 21 inches long. This was the most terrifying experience of my life. The good news is, our story unlike many others....has a happy ending.

Our story begins at 3:00pm on Friday. I started having contractions about 5-10 minutes apart. Nothing too painful, good braxton hicks contractions much like the ones I'd been experiencing. At about 6:00, I started timing them about six minutes apart. Getting more painful. About a "3" on a scale of 1-10. At 6:30, I experienced one that brought me to my knees. I called my husband and told him, "I think this is really it, I need you to come home." He arrived about fifteen minutes later. At 7:30, we called the OB. He told us it sounded like it was time to go. He called the hospital and let them know we were coming. Contractions at this time were about 3-5 minutes apart lasting 60 seconds each. I had no mucous coming out, no bloody show, no additional discharge. Just felt like the early labor I experienced with my first son. Aside from that one bad contraction, I was feeling at about a "4" on a scale of 1-10 with each contraction. We took our son to my parent?s house about fifteen minutes away. We dropped him off quickly because my pain level was slowly going up. Off we were to the hospital, just another fifteen minutes away.

We were about six minutes into our trip and I felt a gush. I smiled and said, "Honey, I think my water just broke!" Then I felt a second and a third gush. We both started getting very excited! We were eight minutes into our trip when I felt the outside of my pants. Bright red blood. "No big deal." I thought. "This is just the bloody show." We called the OB and left a message letting him know again what was going on.

We made it to triage where they were waiting for me. Everyone at this point was calm. We got hooked up to the monitors and I felt more gushes. Gabriel looked great, his heart rate was in the 140s/150s. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then the nurse went to check my dilation and water. She looked, felt around and stepped out. She and a few other nurses came back and said that they were transferring me to a room.

We got to the room and they asked if I wanted my epidural. "Really?" I said. "It seems too early for that." The nurse told me that they were super busy and that they didn't want me to have to wait for it. I agreed and thought that this would be the easiest labor ever! Little did I know.....

Within minutes I had my epidural and we were waiting for my OB to come in and check me. There was an ice storm and he was running late. Still I thought everything was normal, I had no idea that all of the medical staff knew something I didn't. No idea...

Suddenly, I started picking up on some things. There were four nurses in my room. I was only 2cm dilated. The nurse anesthetist was still in my room. Everyone looked worried. I looked at my husband who did a rotation in college on an OB floor. He looked worried. I grabbed a nurse and said, "Please tell me what is going on and do not sugar coat it." She looked ready to cry. She told me this,

"When you came into triage, your gushing was not your water. It was blood. Your baby originally looked fine on the monitor, but now he's dipping a lot. We're putting in an internal monitor now and waiting for your OB. Everything is OK," she assured me.

The internal monitor went in and his heart rate stabilized. Everyone in the room looked so relieved. The nurse anesthetist left and we were down to only two nurses. My husband told me we were good now and I continued to labor and Gabe continued to look great on the monitor. Five, FIVE minutes later my life would forever change.

The nurse came in to check me. She didn't tell me if I had progressed. Just said she was going to be right back. She came back with the nurse anesthetist and another nurse. Apparently, I was starting to really gush blood and Gabe?s heart rate was sinking quickly. Do you know what 85bpm sounds like on a fetal monitor? SLOW, freakishly slow. They put my bed down; the nurse anesthetist began pulling things out of the drawer. She was putting one thing after another in my IV, I started shaking uncontrollably. I couldn?t feel below my nipples and my body was tingling and felt like every limb was going to explode. My arms felt heavy and the second they put a hair net on me, I knew what was happening. I couldn?t speak because of how quickly they were giving me the meds. I saw nurses squeezing bags of fluid as quickly as possible into my IV; my husband was signing consent forms all as my bed was wheeling down to the ER. A beautiful woman (maybe 27 or 28 years old) came out and said she was the on-call OB for the hospital and she was determined to get my baby out safe. I couldn?t believe she was a doctor, ha ha. (She had been watching my monitors in the hallway and gave the big ?go? to the staff that this child needed to come now.) People were flying to get supplies ready. I thought for sure I?d pass out. It was too much; I couldn?t process anything that was happening.

I felt my stomach just before they cut; I could feel my hand touching it. I told the nurse and she told me that I will feel touching, just no pain. Suddenly I heard Gabe screaming, had they already started? I felt someone touching me, but I didn?t feel the ?pressure? everyone talks about with a cesarean. He was screaming, and I instantly started to calm down. I heard 11:26pm, I couldn?t believe it was still the 20^th. The nurses and doctors were smiling uncontrollably. When I saw how happy everyone was, I knew how close it really was. They cleaned him up and immediately I got to hold him. They brought the scale to me and let me see him weighed. 6 lbs 10.5 ounces, 21 inches of pure miracle in my arms. I held him through every stitch, I was so happy and my DH was so relieved. My mother was able to come to the window and I gave her the thumbs up. Her tears turned to happy tears. He scored 8 and 9 on apgars. I didn?t know it at the time, but he got an ?8? because he came out a little blue. The OB had him out in 30 seconds from cut to birth, just in time. The nurses and the OB were talking as they were stitching. I heard the words "placental abruption" and then I heard, "We got here just in time, just in time."

As I was wheeled out, I looked at the OB that saved my Gabriel. Her eyes and mine were filled with tears. ?Thank you so, so very much for my sweet boy,? I said. ?You are so very welcome,? she replied.

Recovery sucks to say the least. My incision is twice as big as a regular c-section incision. I am in a ton of pain even a week later. I can?t pick up my older son. But my family is together. We?re all happy and healthy and I know I am blessed. I?d take the pain and have my Gabriel here any day.

talitha712

How scary!  I'm so glad everything turned out okay!

shotzie

Wow, glad you two are okay!

BritanyV

Wow...I'm in tears!   So happy they got your baby boy out in time!   I know how scary it is to hear your LOs low heart rate on the monitor, my LO went lower than that and I was terrified.  

The c-section healing sucks but it is all worth it!

SoonToBeMsP

I cried reading this! I can't imagine the emotions you felt.

But thank goodness everyone is alright and you have a beautiful and healthy LO to take your mind off it all

Annya26

I also cried reading this! I am SO happy that everything worked out and they were able to get him out safely.

Mine wasn't nearly that dramatic, but my son's heart rate was down to 50 when they cut me and screamed that I needed to push now. Truthfully it was so slow I didn't think there WAS a heart beat. 

Congrats on the birth of your son and wishing you all the best for the speediest recovery possilbe!